Gupta business rescue plan teeters on the brink

The business rescue plan for eight Gupta-linked businesses may be under threat before it has even properly left the ground following accusations of non-payment of salaries since practitioners were appointed to return the companies to health.

Numerous messages and calls to business rescue company Coronado Consulting’s Louis Klopper in an attempt to find out what was happening have gone unanswered. Confident Concepts (Pty) Ltd, Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty) Ltd, Tegeta Exploration (Pty) Ltd, VR Laser Services (Pty) Ltd, Shiva Uranium (Pty) Ltd, Optimum Coal Mine (Pty) Ltd, Optimum Coal Terminal (Pty) Ltd and Koornfontein Mine (Pty) Ltd are understood to be the businesses under rescue.

JIC Mining, also a Gupta-owned company, falls under Optimum and, in an effort to obtain comment, The Citizen spoke to its deputy CEO, JP Arora, who refused to comment and said only Klopper was authorised to do so.

According to a source, whose identity is known to The Citizen but who asked for confidentiality for fear of a backlash at work, Arora and the business practitioners met on Wednesday.

“They’ve been meeting for the last two weeks but nothing ever comes of it,” said the frustrated source. “Our medical aids and provident funds haven’t been paid for two months, our salaries are a month behind; we have no money for petrol but we’re expected to be at work.”

Up to 300 people at VR Laser and 150 people at Sandile Coal and Klipbank Colliery are now on average two months behind on salary.

A second, independent, source who spoke to The Citizen under the same terms said on Thursday none of the 150 workers of the VR Laser on Optimum Mine Mpumalanga had received their weekly or monthly salaries for the month of April.

“March was the last time they received any salary,” she said. “Management at the Optimum branch is trying in vain to contact the head office of VR Laser for answers. They don’t answer their phones.”

The source said the business rescue practitioners had arrived at Optimum on Thursday.

“When they got word that the 150 workers of VR Laser want answers regarding their salaries, they left in a hurry,” she said.

Numsa shop steward Lucky Muleya said yesterday things were going badly.

“We haven’t seen anything they are doing to help us. It’s not only the 300 employees, it’s the people depending on us who are also struggling.

“We don’t have money to feed our families,” said Muleya.

He noted Numsa had contacted another business rescue company as “this one is not helping us at all”.

“The current business rescue is collapsing because since they started they haven’t shown any progress in terms of rescuing the company,” Muyela added.

According to the first source, mine management, business rescue and Arora met yesterday.

“They said our salaries would be paid as soon as the money Berg Holdings paid to Arora shows on his end. We believe this should be around Monday,” the source said.